As computers have become more prevalent, many computer programs are now distributed throughout the world to geographic regions having a wide range of languages and other geographic differences. Thus, it has become desirable for software developers to be able to market their products to those people who do not speak the native language of the software developers. In particular, it is beneficial that software developed in a base language, for example in English, be available for individual geographic and linguistic regions, a process known as localization. In addition, when a software product is marketed to a bilingual country such as Canada, national and local laws may dictate that computer software must be presented in the official languages of that country.
The process of localizing computer software largely involves translating exposed resource strings in base language, such as text message, menu, and button, into a target language. Resource strings are series of characters manipulated as a group, and are used to display text and other characters through a graphical user interface (GUI) generated on a computer display. The process of localizing computer software is time-consuming and expensive. The resource strings must be translated to allow the user to operate the program. The most direct way to do this is to search the entire program source code for every resource string, and translating each of these to the target language, with the translated resource strings subsequently compiled into runtime files for individual operating system platforms. This development method ensures that a relatively stable base version of the code is available for the internationalization and localization processes.
This approach has several problems. One problem is that the use of this method means that the software must be specifically translated and compiled for each intended language. This, of course, is an expensive process in itself, and means that any change in the source code requires each language version of the code to be edited and recompiled. The compiled runtime files are then placed into their required locations within a file structure to be called when needed. Another limitation is that since a resource library file is generated at build time on a particular operating system platform, it is limited to use on that one platform. Yet another problem is that the sale and distribution of the additional target language versions of the software is delayed.
More significantly, obstacles are created in terms of future upgrades for the software via periodic maintenance releases. Software defects in the base code, when discovered and subsequently repaired during the internationalization and localization processes, will result various target language versions of the product produced via a traditional software development method ultimately differ from the originally released base language version.
These differences increase as the software developer seeks to prepare and distribute periodic maintenance releases of the product to upgrade its customer's software and to correct deficiencies often discovered through the customer's use of the product. Where multiple customers have a variety of base and target language versions of the same software, the time and costs associated with the preparation and delivery of a maintenance release are significantly increased because the base from which changes are to be implemented is not uniform.
In addition, customers of the base language version of the software product also typically discover defects. As these defects are corrected by the software developer before the internationalization and localization processes, the corrections are typically incorporated into the subsequent target language versions, compounding complexity of the changes which must be implemented in order to correct the defects discovered during internationalization and localization, thereby creating the potential for further delay in the delivery of the target language versions of the computer software.
One localization method for instruction manuals, books, and computer programs containing words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs appropriate to the native language of a user, is described as creating a spreadsheet which contains one or more words in the base language, and correlates those base language components with corresponding components of other target languages. This method presents a problem in that the translation is performed on text isolated in a separate file, without any kind of context. The translation will therefore often contain errors which would not be present if the translation had been performed according to the context in which the text appears.
Another described method creates a localized version of a target computer software by first loading a localization kit, creating a binary version of the localized materials, and then overlay this binary version of the localized materials onto a binary version of the target computer program product to produce a localized target computer program. This method requires additional software in the form of a localization kit. It also has to be run for all resource strings of the base language version. When the binary version of the localized materials are laid onto a binary version of the target computer program product language modules, the target computer program would have to be stopped, perhaps uninstalled and re-installed. This necessitates periods of time when the computer program is not available.
Another method for providing language translators with contextual information for the to be translated target text has also be described. The translator is presented with a graphical user interface in the base language, can then interactively translate each text label on the screen. The ability to edit the text within the application is achieved by adding an editor function to the software application itself. Each text label in the application is stored in a localization file with a specific resource bundle name and by a key. When the editor is activated, the text object is introspected for its source data, and the translator can edit the text directly. This method has the disadvantages that a translator is required, in addition to the extra function of the editor in the computer software product.
Therefore, there is a need for a method and system to separate the localization from the software development process. Furthermore, there is a need to compile and generate the runtime files after release of the base software. What is also needed is a process for localizing computer software to reuse the previous translation in a more cost-effective, efficient and standardized manner.